Gulveer Singh won gold in the men’s 10,000m and Servin Sebastian took bronze in the 20km race walk, kicking off India’s campaign at the 27th Asian Athletics Championships. Gulveer finished in 28:38.63, beating out Japan’s Mebuki Suzuki and Bahrain’s Albert Kibichi Rop.
The 26-year-old, who already holds the national record, kept a steady pace and pushed ahead in the closing 200 metres to win his first Asian title. Despite the hot temperature, he executed his racing strategy successfully and expressed satisfaction with the results.
Sebastian had earlier begun India’s medal count in the race walk, clocking 1:21:13.60. Despite falling short of his personal best, he showed grit by staying with the lead pack. Wang Zhaozhao of China and Kento Yoshikawa of Japan finished first and second, respectively. All three podium finishers surpassed the previous championship record. Sawan Barwal finished fourth in the men’s 10,000m race, just missing out on a medal.
At the end of day one, India was second in the medal standings, trailing China but ahead of Japan.
